NCSFR Spring 2026 Newsletter

The last quarter continues to be ever changing. We're most thankful for industry members throughout Idaho, Washington and Oregon who have taken time out of their busy schedules to review the submitted proposals and determine the best of them that align with the priorities that stakeholders annually set forth. New awarded project announcements should be delivered once the administrative wheels have finished churning through the recent award requirements.

With the reorganization of the USDA-ARS, we'll be working on an additional session as part of the November 16–18 NCSFR Conference to involve other small fruit stakeholder groups across the nation along with the National Programs on Small Fruit who lead this reorganization. We're envisioning a summary of the ARS efforts in small fruit over the years and a roadmap of where the national program is moving — a great opportunity for small fruit stakeholders to provide input.

We are currently overhauling the NCSFR website to close long-standing communication and educational gaps between researchers, growers, and the broader public. Our goal is to create a seamless user experience that tells a unified brand story — allowing our audience to immediately grasp NCSFR's purpose, impact, and their role within the Pacific Northwest specialty crop industry. In the coming months we will also be adding to the research library, which houses NCSFR research reports and fact sheets.

NCSFR was able to recommend 9 proposals for consideration of funding for the complete duration of the project, and an additional proposal was recommended to receive some funding to develop preliminary data. While this is a major milestone, funding is still not assured — there are a few administrative steps to finalize and the agreement must be approved by the USDA-REE Deputy Administrator's office before any award can be made.